Driving to Canada to save $$??

[wurking_girl]

We are doing a cruise out of Venice in June 2014. I've had the cruise booked for months, but I just can't bring myself to bite the bullet on the airfare - I have to buy 6 tickets! We are in West Michigan so we've been looking at flying out of Chicago as the flights are cheaper from there than flying out of Detroit. However, as many of the Air Canada flights go thru Toronto, I decided to check direct flights from Toronto to Venice. Looks like I can save at least $350/ticket if we do that. It would mean a 6 hr drive to Toronto, plus time at the border, but hey...that's like $2,100 in collective savings!

 

Just wondering if anyone has done this before and if there are perils I'm not thinking of related to doing customs twice each way, etc.? Is there a down side to this? We'd have to drive 3 hours to Chicago anyway...and I know that flying thru Toronto would add customs time as well. At least this way, there's no second flight to miss.

 

Also...having procrastinated this long, is there any chance that flights could still go down, or are they more likely to just run out of seats from this point on?

 

Thanks for sharing your collective wisdom!

Edited April 17, 2014 by wurking_girl

[CruiserBruce]

There is absolutely no way to predict if airfares will go up or down.

[cb at sea]

While a 6 hour + drive might not seem so bad GOING to your vacation, coming home, it's going to be a royal pain in the ass....nice vacation, then drive for a day???? I wouldn't want to do that!

[notentirelynormal]

While a 6 hour + drive might not seem so bad GOING to your vacation, coming home, it's going to be a royal pain in the ass....nice vacation, then drive for a day???? I wouldn't want to do that!

 

I guess it depends on your driving habits. Living in LA everything is a long drive. I go to Disneyland and figure in 1-1/2 hours each way and I go about once a month at least. I take the kids to the zoo in Santa Barbara (they don't like the LA one) and it's an hour each way with no traffic. Sometimes when I pick up the kids from my daughters house even though it's only 45 miles away it can take up to 2 hours with traffic and accidents.

 

My mother and mother-in-law's house are both 2-1/2 hours away. We go up on Saturday morning and come back on Sunday noonish. It's just not a big deal. Road warriors are born in Southern California LOL.

 

The biggest wild card is the border crossing. Otherwise, for $2100 I'd do it. Even if you spent the night on the way home and left in the morning it would still save tons of money. Six hours - you get up, have breakfast and you're home just a little after lunch. No biggie.

Edited April 18, 2014 by notentirelynormal

[calliopecruiser]

Over $2100 is a significant amount of money to save - I'd be willing to make a 6 hour drive in that circumstance. I'm a good driver who enjoys driving; I can imagine some people who don't like driving might feel differently.

[lah66]

Working girl, I feel your pain! We are in Grand Rapids and drive to the Eastern ports, specifically Newark and New York City in the fall to save $600 in airfare. To fly from GR to Newark, there is a layover so it takes 5 hours or so to get there. We jump in the van early in the morning, have a nice late lunch at a brewpub along the way and 11 hours later, have arrived in Newark. We always have to consider parking fees but found the money we save by driving far outweighs parking fees. We arrive a day early whether we fly or drive so the night in a hotel is a wash! $2100 is a lot of money! Airfare is so high! We want to cruise Europe for our 25th next year but the airfare is scaring us!

Good Luck!

Lauri

[ExcitedMightPee]

a 6 hour drive to save $2,100! I would do it in a heartbeat! That is a huge savings!!

[iancal]

I would do it. That is $2100 after tax....

 

We are used to going the other way...ie driving stateside to grab a flight!

 

 

I would not wait much longer to book.

[cruisinsteph]

We've done the 5 hours drive quite a few times from Ottawa to Toronto to save money on flights. To save $2,100, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

 

The downside is time. Plan for the worse.

 

-In your case, time delays at the border.

-Toronto traffic, do NOT underestimate it. It doesn't matter which day of the week your going to Pearson Airport, traffic in Toronto is always wacky. If we drive up same day, I plan to show up 5 hours before our flight.

-Flat tire / car trouble

 

The 6 hour drive same day is probably out of the question unless you have a really late flight. I would recommend coming up the day before and staying at a hotel if you can burn the extra day just for traveling. You can also find several hotels that have free shuttle service to the airport and allow you to leave your car there while your gone for free.

 

Finally, account for gas, hotel costs and time. If you need a hotel room for 6 people (1 or 2 rooms?) before and maybe also after the flight, that might eat up your 2100$ savings really quickly and not look as appealing anymore.

 

Food for thought.

[CGYCruisingFamily]

For $2100 I would do it. As some of the pp's have said, be prepared for traffic in Toronto. As for gas and hotel, you would still likely come out ahead in the long run.

 

A couple of years ago I had to go to Pittsburgh with a coworker for business. We tried finding flights there but were looking at 14 hrs in transit with 2 or three connections (and very expensive flights). We ended up flying into Hamilton (a city near Toronto) and driving. We saved almost $1600 by doing a 5 hr drive.

 

Anyhow, Air Canada is an alright airline. Are you looking at the direct flight from Toronto to Venice? Is it Air Canada Rouge or just Air Canada. We are flying Rouge from Toronto to Barcelona later in the summer. Just be aware that if it is Rouge, there are a couple of things about it (most glaring is that you have to pay for the entertainment system and use a device to access it - like an ipad or laptop). On regular Air Canada, they have the system included. - we are traveling with kids so this is a consideration for us. We plan to just load up their ipads with itunes movies and hope to avoid paying the access fee on the plane.

 

Having said that though, I still think a 6 hr drive isnt too bad. Depending on the time of your flight, you might want to consider traveling the day before?

Edited May 4, 2014 by CGYCruisingFamily

[calliopecruiser]

Is it Air Canada Rouge or just Air Canada. We are flying Rouge from Toronto to Barcelona later in the summer. Just be aware that if it is Rouge, there are a couple of things about it (most glaring is that you have to pay for the entertainment system and use a device to access it - like an ipad or laptop).

 

The other thing about Rouge is that there is about 3" less legroom. Rouge sucks; I'm probably going to drive to Buffalo at Christmas to avoid flying Rouge, regardless of whether it's cheaper or more expensive. Air Canada, on the other hand, is the best North American airline, IMO, except for Porter (but they don't fly very many places).

[CGYCruisingFamily]

Oh goodie, 3 " less legroom for my 6'4" hubbie. Thankfully we only have one leg on Rouge for our trip (otherwise AC, Brussels Air or Luftansan).

[wurking_girl]

Thanks for all the great feedback! We did finally decide to do the direct flight from Toronto to Venice - and yes, it is Air Canada Rouge. The flight isn't until 9:30 PM so we'll have all day to work our way thru customs and such. Our return flight gets in at 4:30 PM so I'm thinking about a park and fly hotel deal for that night. I guess we'll just deal with the pay-for-video and limited leg room when the time comes!

 

BTW, I'd never heard of 'Rouge' before...when my sister brought it up, I thought she was mis-spelling 'rogue' as some sort of derogatory comment about the airline! ;)

[sept10dsm]

I guess it depends on your driving habits. Living in LA everything is a long drive. I go to Disneyland and figure in 1-1/2 hours each way and I go about once a month at least. I take the kids to the zoo in Santa Barbara (they don't like the LA one) and it's an hour each way with no traffic. Sometimes when I pick up the kids from my daughters house even though it's only 45 miles away it can take up to 2 hours with traffic and accidents.

 

My mother and mother-in-law's house are both 2-1/2 hours away. We go up on Saturday morning and come back on Sunday noonish. It's just not a big deal. Road warriors are born in Southern California LOL.

 

The biggest wild card is the border crossing. Otherwise, for $2100 I'd do it. Even if you spent the night on the way home and left in the morning it would still save tons of money. Six hours - you get up, have breakfast and you're home just a little after lunch. No biggie.

 

yes, what about a drive from the east coast to Vancouver for an AK cruise!

[notentirelynormal]

I'd do it if the dollars were enough and I had the time. We mostly do it because my mom has two little dogs and she doesn't want to put them to sleep on the flight. Plus, she won't have a car up there if she flies. She normally stays a couple of months then back. It's 18 actual driving hours.

[SingingWander]

Depending on your dates of the cruise.....try Airtransat direct fights to and from Venice in the area of $783 CAD (taxes included)

[bouhunter]

We live in Michigan and flew out of Sault Ste. Marie Ontario a few years ago. Smooth sailing, no issues with customs or anything else:)

[grandma*knows*best]

There is absolutely no way to predict if airfares will go up or down.

 

Sure there is. I can say with absolute certainty that airfare from the US to Venice has not dropped significantly, if at all, from the time this thread was posted until now, and won't by June either. I would have purchased these tickets months ago.

[Mommypieof3]

I always look at what we are saving and if it is worth my time...We often travel with our three kids so it is X5 and usually worth the drive. I am in Upstate NY so we often drive to Newark, NYC or CT to save. Typically, $1,000 is the cut-off for us. If we save $1,000 or more, we will do the drive (roughly three hours to all of them) Last year, we drove all the way to Philly (5+/- hours) and saved $3,000! I hated the drive, but I LOVED the money we saved---it was a down payment on another vacation!!

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

If you want to save the money do it ..